Interestingly, there is one instance where the media usually gets it “right” and the gun community regularly gets it “wrong”. The media often refers to a device as a “silencer”, while many in the gun community insist the same device should actually be called a “suppressor”.
The law regulating these devices (The National Firearm Act) refers to them as “Silencers” or “Firearm Mufflers”. It never calls them “suppressors”. Legally, there is no such thing as a “suppressor”. “Suppressor” is, technically, a popular slang term for the devices.
Indeed, their inventor named and trademarked it the “Maxim Silencer”. He also invented “mufflers” for internal combustion engines. His original terminology was later codified into law.
(To be fair, though, “noise suppressing” is a far more accurate description than “silencing” for describing what they do. They quiet the noise; they do not silence it.)